Selling Cat Toys to Fight Hunger in Sudan

Soft Star is proud to announce that we sold enough Playful Pancake cat toys in 2012 to donate 7 milking goats to hungry families in Sudan!

For those unfamiliar with our Playful Pancakes, we use our leather and sheepskin scraps to make catnip-filled cat toys. All of our materials and labor are donated, and 100% of the proceeds for these toys are sent to Kids for Kids, an organization that combats hunger in Darfur, Sudan.

Patricia Parker founded Kids for Kids in 2001, shortly after visiting Darfur and witnessing the appalling living conditions of children in remote villages. While there, she met a 9-year-old boy who was walking across the desert for 7 hours to reach fresh water and bring it back to his family. "This is intolerable for anyone and unacceptable for a child," said Patricia, "and worse, when you realize that not only were the aid agencies there, they knew and were doing nothing about it."

Kids for Kids is an organization created to help children struggling to survive in these remote villages, and their donated goats provide a continuous source of protein, minerals and vitamins through their milk.

Soft Star first became involved with Kids for Kids in 2006, when then 7-year-old Cassidy Lynn learned about starvation in Darfur and decided she wanted to help. Cassidy and her friends began making cat toys to donate to the organization, and Soft Star learned about it when they came to our shop for leather scraps. We're now proud to offer the Playful Pancakes as a permanent item in our online catalog.

Thanks to Elizabeth from Gainesville, Florida, for sending us this video showing how much Stella, her daughter's kitty, loves her Playful Pancake. Elizabeth writes: "To say it was a hit is an understatement!"